There are superstars, and then there is Shah Rukh Khan. The difference is that while most superstars seem to belong to another world, Shah Rukh Khan has somehow managed to remain one of us. He may live in Mannat, own homes across the world, command a global following and be recognised in the remotest corners of the planet, but somewhere in our imagination, he is still that Delhi boy who could be spotted eating chaat in Chandni Chowk, cracking a joke with friends or holding court at a neighbourhood gathering.
There is something reassuringly familiar about him. He has become one of the biggest stars in the world, yet we have never quite stopped feeling that he belongs to our mohalla.
Perhaps it has something to do with his Delhi upbringing. There is a certain warmth, mischief and informality about him that makes him feel like the big brother or the favourite uncle you grew up admiring. You may never have met him, may have absolutely no personal connection with him, but you feel you know him. He is that distant relative whose achievements you proudly discuss at family gatherings. His success feels like a collective achievement, almost as if someone from our own family has made it big. When he wins, we celebrate. When he loses, we take it personally. When a film of his fails, it somehow feels as though someone has let down a member of the family.
That is the peculiar relationship India shares with Shah Rukh Khan. We have watched him grow, stumble, reinvent himself and rise again. We have seen him go from being an outsider with no film-family connections to becoming the most recognisable Indian face across the world. His journey is a reminder that you do not necessarily need a famous surname, a godfather or a ready-made place in the industry to make your dreams come true. You need ambition, belief, hard work and perhaps an almost unreasonable refusal to give up. He has made us believe in the possibility of making it against the odds.
Of course, not every Shah Rukh Khan film is a masterpiece. Some are absurd, some are excessively indulgent and some ask us to suspend disbelief to an almost ridiculous degree. But we turn up anyway. We forgive the excesses, overlook the occasional silliness and allow ourselves to be swept away by the spectacle. Because watching Shah Rukh Khan is not always about watching a good film. It is about spending time with someone we have grown up loving. We want to see him dance, romance, fight villains, deliver a dramatic dialogue and spread his arms in that familiar pose. We know what is coming, and we still want it.
There is also something special about the way he represents India to the world. He is arguably the last great Hindi film superstar in the traditional sense, someone whose popularity cuts across generations, languages and borders. He is a global ambassador for Indian popular culture, carrying with him our humour, our emotions, our music, our romance and our larger-than-life approach to life. Yet he has never needed to become someone else to find acceptance internationally. His Indianness is part of his appeal. He can hold an audience in London, Dubai, New York or Berlin spellbound and still make us think of the boy from Delhi.
At 61, Shah Rukh Khan has earned the right to be called a legend. He has experienced extraordinary highs, endured difficult phases and returned when many had begun to wonder whether his magic had faded. His comeback reminded us that some relationships are too deep to be shaken by a few disappointments. We were waiting for him, perhaps as eagerly as he was waiting to rediscover himself.
And yet, in our hearts, he remains Raj from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. The boy who made us believe that love could be mischievous, romantic and enduring. The boy who would cross continents for the girl he loved, but would still respect her family. The boy who made mustard fields, trains and open arms part of our collective romantic vocabulary. Time has passed, we have grown older and he has become a global icon, but a part of us is still waiting for him to turn around, smile and stretch his arms.
That is Shah Rukh Khan’s greatest achievement. Not the box-office records, the awards, the palatial home or the millions of fans. It is the fact that he has become so successful without becoming emotionally distant. He is a superstar we can admire from afar and still feel is one of our own. And perhaps that is why, no matter how big he becomes, we will always claim a little bit of him as ours.
